Foundation year：1991

Webpage：The AIMS activities are detailed in the web site(www.sonnomed.it),which contains main information for both patients and physicians,links to all the major international sleep scientific societies and sleep journals,reports from different national committee,guidelines,recommendations and official documents produced by the society,local/national and international forthcoming meetings on sleep.

Number of members：350

Composition of members(degree,specialties,subspecialties,etc.)：AIMS has a clear multidisciplinary spirit,with regular members belonging to different medical and surgical specialties,including neurology,pulmonology,psychiatry,ENT,cardiology,pediatrics,child neurology,dentistry,and psychology.

Historical perspective of the society：The Italian Sleep Medicine Association(AIMS)is a scientific multidisciplinary society founded in 1990 by Prof.Elio Lugaresi and other Italian clinical sleep researchers.The first AIMS Congress was held in Bologna in 1991.The society′s goals aim to spread knowledge on sleep medicine,promote research programs and organize epidemiological surveys in the sleep field.

Important sleep physicians / researchers in the history of the NSS：The current officers are Gian Luigi Gigli(President),Liborio Parrino(Vice President),Marco Zucconi(Secretary),and Alberto Braghiroli(Treasurer).

Previous Presidents were Elio Lugaresi(Founder),Salvatore Smirne,Francomichele Puca,Mario Giovanni Terzano,Fabio Cirignotta,Luigi Ferini-Strambi,and Franco Ferrillo.

Number of Sleep Medicine Centers(link to their titles and locations)：So far,40 Centers of different levels of complexity(multidisciplinary 26,pulmonary-oriented 13,pediatric-oriented 1)have been accredited.They are distributed all over the country.(http://www.sonnomed.it/)

Number of Sleep Research Centers (link to their titles and locations)：See http://www.sonnomed.it/ and Italian Sleep research Society(SIRS)

Accreditation/Certification procedure：Since 1995,AIMS offers a program of accreditation for Sleep Medicine Centers,based on expertise,appropriate instrumentation and clinical management of sleep disorders,and was preceded by teaching courses,training in multidisciplinary Sleep Centers and examination for the certification of the “Medical Sleep Expert”.

Educational programs：The society′s goals aim to spread knowledge on sleep medicine,promote research programs and organize epidemiological surveys on the sleep field.One of the major projects is continuous medical education and training courses to develop new Sleep Medicine Centers across the country.In this perspective,AIMS is ready to start a 2nd-level post-doctoral University Master on Sleep Medicine,opened to medical doctors.

Since 1997,AIMS organizes yearly a one-week residential Sleep Course for physicians,psychologists and technicians including formal lessons,clinical practice with sleep scoring,discussion of clinical cases,practice on diagnostic and therapeutic devices.

Current President:Prof.Dr.Gian Luigi Gigli